Secret bid for Hammerson (HMSO). £5bn approach by French rival threatens to scupper merger with Intu Properties (INTU). Klépierre, which owns more than 100 shopping centres across the Continent, contacted Hammerson a fortnight ago about a proposed takeover but was rebuffed almost immediately.

Melrose Industries (MRO) – Dana tries to sweeten GKN (GKN) driveline deal. Dana, the US automotive group in talks to buy GKN’s driveline division, is to seek a secondary listing in London as it bumps up its efforts to win over shareholders in the engineering group.

East India Club to sue Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) over fraud ‘failure’. The club, a members-only venue in central London founded in 1849 whose former patrons and members include Prince Albert, Lord Mountbatten and Lord Randolph Churchill, is preparing legal action over what it alleges is RBS’s failure to warn it about a series of illegal transactions that were used to fund a former club treasurer’s gambling addiction. RBS said that it “categorically denies any liability for the loss”.

Chief executive of Conviviality (CVR) on the brink after sobering week. Diana Hunter is expected to leave the drinks supplier, which has been forced to admit a series of damaging accounting errors.

Sir Martin Sorrell, the advertising pioneer and chief executive of WPP (WPP), recently declared that 2017 was “not a pretty year” for his company. He could soon be saying the same about his pay packet: it is expected to be slashed from £48 million in 2016 to an estimated £15 million.

MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Join the Caribbean oil rush as Trinidad-based Trinity Exploration & Production (TRIN) looks set to drum up healthy returns for investors. Midas verdict: Trinity was hit hard when the oil price collapsed and the group is still feeling the pain. But Dingwall is nursing the company back to health, backed by an enthusiastic and dedicated workforce. Prospects are brighter than they have been in years, the group’s long-term ambition is to reach daily production of more than 7,000 barrels and brokers believe the share price should more than double over the next 12 months. Adventurous investors should snap up some shares now. At 15½p, they could prove a rewarding investment.

MIDAS UPDATE: Our paymaster tip Equiniti Group (EQN) soars by 80% in 20 months. Midas verdict: Equiniti shares have delivered a strong performance and investors may be inclined to take some profits. But they should hold on to most of their shares. Equiniti is doing well in the UK, while the US acquisition provides added momentum to the group.

Housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) last night came under fire from a major rival over its boss’s £100 million pay package. Stephen Stone, chief executive of Crest Nicholson, said: ‘This is clearly a negative [for the sector]. It’s mentioned more times than I’m sure my peer group would like. ‘The Persimmon remuneration is massively ahead of what all of the other public companies, particularly in housing, would have been delivering in an executive role.’

Home furnishings designer Ashley Wilde and pop star Kylie Minogue are suing discount retailer B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) for selling two products named “Kylie”. The Australian singer, 49, endorses duvets, pillows and throws made by Ashley Wilde under the “Kylie Minogue at Home” brand.

Pubs giant Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) in benefits row with trustees. The pubs operator behind All Bar One and Harvester is embroiled in a High Court row with its pension trustees over a plan to cut retirement benefits for more than 20,000 people.

Mega mergers on the way after shake-up at Unilever (ULVR). Three-way split expected to lead to takeovers. Unilever is preparing the ground for a series of blockbuster mergers that could include deals with rivals such as Colgate-Palmolive and Estée Lauder, according to City sources.

Directors of Conviviality (CVR) gave the company’s internal controls a clean bill of health in a review last year. The board conducted a study of the “effectiveness” of Conviviality’s financial reporting procedures, and decided against creating an “internal audit function” after judging that its internal safeguards were “appropriate”, according to the annual report. The revelation raises more questions over the stewardship of Conviviality, which chief executive Diana Hunter transformed into Britain’s largest independent alcohol retailer through a slew of acquisitions.

Conviviality (CVR) one too many for the road. A shock £30m tax bill has left the drinks retailer with a hangover from which it will be hard to recover.

Did John Laing Group (JLG) need its rights issue? Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada don’t think so, and reckon it said more about John Laing’s challenges to squeeze cash from selling assets and its high cost base. “Investor feedback has raised questions about whether the rights issue was a fitting decision by management,” they wrote. “Communication needs to be improved.” Its explanation for the £210.2m cash call — set at a level typically associated with boardroom desperation — was that it needed to access a flurry of potential American deals that would generate much higher returns. Pay up, or miss out, it demanded. Investors duly stumped up the cash (grimly accepting the £6.3m of fees paid to bankers and advisers to arrange the deal). They were soon rewarded.

Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) boss David Wild is ready with a Mighty Meaty. The royal wedding will bring families together — for a Domino’s pizza, hopes the firm’s boss

Worldwide bidding battle sparked for Spencer’s broking giant Nex Group (NXG). A takeover approach from the owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has sparked a frantic scramble among other exchanges, which were wrong-footed after it pounced as the industry held its annual jamboree in Boca Raton, Florida.

The high street is facing a full-blown crisis as the company behind off-licence chains Bargain Booze and Wine Rack scrambles to avert collapse and Carpetright prepares to close scores of shops. This weekend Conviviality (CVR) is hurriedly putting together a new business plan that will form the basis for an emergency fundraising due to be launched in the coming days. Without an injection of cash, Conviviality, which has 700 stores and 2,600 people, could go under, adding to the deep gloom on the high street. Carpetright (CPR) is also facing a desperate bid to stay in business. The chain is planning to close a chunk of its 440-strong store estate, through a company voluntary arrangement, a ­restructuring scheme that enables businesses with too many outlets to pull out of some and negotiate cheaper rents on others. Mothercare (MTC) is seeking fresh financing, while staff cuts have been announced at Tesco (TSCO), Sainsbury (J) (SBRY), Marks & Spencer Group (MKS), Debenhams (DEB) and New Look. Hundreds of stores will be left empty.

Mitie Group (MTO) turnaround plan remains on track and it will deliver higher cost savings than previously thought. The outsourcer said that its transformation plan will see it trim costs by £50m a year by 2020.

Manx Financial Group (MFX) jumped 1.95p, to 13.25p. The company owns Conister Bank, the largest retail bank on the Isle of Man, and reported a 78% rise in profits to £2.5million for 2017. Executive chairman Jim Mellon, who has a 13.5 per cent stake in Manx worth £2.3million, described it as ‘a very satisfactory outcome’.

Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) outlined plans to buy back £32million of shares before the end of the year, having already bought £18million.

The boss of animal genetics specialist Genus (GNS) sold shares in his own company worth £834,000.

Conviviality (CVR) is planning a £100 million-plus emergency rights issue next week, pending the outcome of an investigation into accounting errors that resulted in the suspension of the drinks retailer’s shares this week.

A takeover approach from the CME prompted a rush by investors to Nex Group (NXG) yesterday. Shares rose by more than 30% after confirmation of the preliminary approach from CME. Such a deal could net well over £500 million for Michael Spencer, Nex’s founder and one of the best-known figures in the City. CME said that it was conducting due diligence on Nex, but added there was “no certainty” that an offer would be made.

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) has rejected government demands to build more homes, saying that “market constraints” make it impossible to increase supply beyond its present plans.

Safestore Holdings (SAFE) is facing an investor revolt over £14 million of share awards for its chief executive and finance director, with some shareholders in the self-storage company preparing to vote against the entire remuneration committee and other members of the board.

The two top directors at Evraz (EVR) trimmed their holdings and helped to send the Russian steel producer tumbling.

Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) was on the up, ending 28p higher at £31.58, after big institutional investors lined up their positions in the Irish paper and packaging group in the hope of a return by a spurned bidder.

Informa (INF) picked up 10p to 729½p as the events and business information group came closer to completing its agreed takeover of UBM, the exhibitions organiser.

Dignity (DTY), up 55½p at £10.01, returned to favour after the funeral services group said late on Thursday that directors had been buying shares.

Cairn Energy (CNE) shares added 6p to 205p after analysts at Macquarie lifted their advice on the oil explorer to “outperform” and raised the price target to 250p from 248p after it said this week that it had returned to annual profit.

Mothercare (MTC) shed a further 7% sliding 1¼p to 17¼p, with no update on how talks with its banks were going after its warning of a possible covenants breach and a profit warning.

Arix Bioscience (ARIX) said that it had successfully raised £87 million to help it to capitalise on its pipeline of treatments and bring additional therapies to the market.

Manx Financial Group (MFX) was lifted more than 17%, or 2p, to 13¼p after it reported a 78% increase in annual pre-tax profits to £2.7 million.

Prices and trades are delayed by at least 15 minutes. Vox Markets takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information within this site. All times quoted are based on the current time in London, UK.